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Earlier today I flagged a comment as "unfriendly or unkind" . The comment was obviously unfriendly ("stupid question" and "[OP has] ocd"), yet the flag got declined. Since that happened twice today at different times, I'm starting to wonder why. Am I using an incorrect flag type? Or if the first moderator reviewed the flag disagreed that it wasn't unfriendly, what's the rationale? The comments eventually got removed but I wonder what's happening.

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The flag if accepted has quite a lot of impact on the account which has been flagged. A moderator who basically agrees that the comment does not belong on the site but disagrees with the explanation rude can decline the flag but still delete the comment in one action.

Whether that was the case with these comments I can not be sure but if you just disagree with a comment flagging as rude is too strong.

On the other hand, sometimes comments are rude but rightly so, expressing something that is or seems to be the truth, in which case a moderator can agree with the comment but still see a reason to remove it from the site.

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    FYI: What's the impact on a recipient user account if a "unfriendly or unkind" flag is accepted?
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Aug 28 at 21:15
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    Based on this answer, could you or some other mod who handled the flags please approve such flags? Otherwise it makes it difficult to keep track of which users tend to leave unkind comments. "stupid question" and "[OP has] ocd" are clearly unkind comments. There seems to be no impact on the account which has been flagged unless such flags start accumulating. Thanks.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Aug 31 at 2:57
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    I don't agree with the first sentence of this answer. Such a flag being marked 'helpful' has little or no impact on the user account. Any impact is at the discretion of the moderator.
    – D.W.
    Commented Sep 4 at 21:48
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    I suspect a better explanation is that, as long as the comment is removed, it doesn't make a huge difference whether the flag is marked 'helpful' or 'declined'. The primary utility of 'helpful' vs 'declined' is sending a signal to the flagger about what kinds of flags are appropriate or not (and secondarily to help moderators keep track of any pattern of rudeness etc.). In my opinion, it would normally be appropriate to flag a comment saying 'stupid question' as 'unfriendly' and such a flag would normally be marked helpful.
    – D.W.
    Commented Sep 4 at 21:48
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    I haven't seen the full context or the full comment, but when someone writes 'stupid question', ordinarily I wouldn't characterize that as merely a matter of disagreement or merely expressing something that seems to be the truth; it sounds to me like something that is likely to violate the Code of Conduct ("we expect all users to treat one another with kindness and respect. Remember, we’re all here to learn").
    – D.W.
    Commented Sep 4 at 21:50
  • @D.W. There was a case on SO in the past where a bunch of comments on one post with these flags were deleted as part of a mass cleanup. One user's comments were among those, and those combined with other deleted comments of theirs caused an automatic flag on their account for "too many rude comments". The moderator reviewing the flag was new and didn't check the comments themselves, and decided to issue a mod message warning. As the user had been suspended in the past once, the system recommended they suspend for 30 days. The result: an incorrect suspension caused by the deletion of comments.
    – gparyani
    Commented Sep 5 at 21:58

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